The present invention relates to an apparatus for the handling of windrows of crop material. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device which inverts windrows of crop material upon discharge from a windrow merger.
Many times the harvest of feed and grain products occurs during less than ideal weather conditions. When the crop is too moist it must be left in the field for drying. Typically, the product is cut, gathered and left in long parallel windrows in the field for drying. Windrows, if left untouched in the field too long can yellow the field underneath, stunting future growth in that area and attracting bug and worm infestation. Furthermore, the exposed areas of the windrow material may bleach and wilt due to exposure before the underside is able to dry. In short, the longer the crop remains untouched in the field, the greater the risk of crop and field damage. The windrows are eventually picked up so that the product can be placed in storage or further processed.
In order to minimize the number of windrows that must be picked up it makes economic sense to merge one or more windrow into a single windrow. Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for a windrow merger that is capable of efficiently picking up a windrow of crop material in a field and moving the product comprising the windrow in a transverse direction to be merged with another windrow. Furthermore, there is a need in the industry to accelerate the drying process where possible. Windrows of crop material will dry quicker if the windrows are inverted so that the underside of the crop dries. There is also a need in the industry to protect the quality of the harvest. Accordingly, inverting the crop material in the windrows lessens sun damage and shortens the time that the crop must remain in the field to attain a suitable moisture content. The optimal situation is to combine these two steps in one device. The device must have the ability to pickup the crop material in an efficient manner, displace the crop material laterally in the field so as to combine one or more windrows and invert the crop when conditions warrant.
The windrow merger inverter shield of the present invention substantially meets the aforementioned needs of the industry. The inverter shield is an improvement to a windrow merger. The attached inverter shield is solidly mounted to the frame of the windrow merger. Irregularities in the surface of the field will not affect the positioning of the inverter shield. Further, the inverter shield is of a compact design so as to minimally increase the width of the windrow merger when in the transportation mode between fields. The inverter shield is easily fixedly mounted by a single point mount adjacent to the discharge end of the transverse conveyor so as to direct the crop into a new windrow, parallel to the pickup windrow with the bottom moist side of the windrow now exposed to the sun and air. Further, the inverter shield is capable of performing the inversion of a windrow without danger of clogging in that the inversion occurs as a result of the shape of the shield which simply utilizes gravity and the transverse velocity of the crop as imparted by the conveyor to rotate the crop as it falls off the end of the conveyor.
The present invention is a windrow merger machine, said machine having a pickup conveyor system, which elevates a windrow of crop material from ground level to a transverse conveyor assembly which displaces the windrow of crop material laterally to a discharge end includes a non-adjustable inverter shield system, attachable to the discharge end of the transverse conveyor assembly, the inverter shield system directing the crop material in a forward direction and causing the discharged crop material to invert prior to striking the ground, the inverter shield system having a frame fixedly attachable to the merger machine, a shield removably coupled to the frame, and a single point attachment being attachable to the windrow merger. The present invention is further a method of inverting crop material and an inverter shield system.